Someone You Should Know: Lorna Wright

by Doug Emblidge

Lorna Wright (WHAM photo)

Given her family history, Lorna Wright wasn't surprised when she was diagnosed with breast cancer eight years ago. But she says that's behind her now. It’s what's going to happen in June that makes her "Someone you Should Know."

Wright was 32, and had just started her job at the Genesee Land Trust, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s the same disease her mother and grandmother survived. She was confident she would also be a survivor.

"Less than a year into employment and newly married. It probably freaked my husband out more than it did me,” Wright says. “Because I knew that at some point that I would probably have breast cancer."

But something else was weighing more heavily on her mind than her diagnosis.

“We had just started thinking about when do we want to start having kids,” she explains.

After her mastectomy, Lorna, 40, faced chemo and radiation. But in order to preserve her fertility, she would need to have her eggs harvested right away. And that costs thousands of dollars.

The couple got help from C.A.R.E., Childbearing After Recovery. Founded by staff at URMC’s Strong Fertility, the C.A.R.E. fund helps defray the cost of fertility preservation for women and men facing cancer. And now, almost two years since the end of her treatment and eight years since her diagnosis, Lorna is pregnant. She remembers getting the call from her doctor.

"And I forget what the numbers were, but they were really high and I went, 'Oh my - that might mean multiples.' Not only was I pregnant - it was very positively pregnant."

Lorna and her husband, Lap Chung, will be the first couple to have a child after getting help from the C.A.R.E. program. And Lorna, who majored in biology at the University of Rochester, was right about the hormone levels in those test results. She is expecting twins, a boy and a girl.

Along with Gus, their beloved dog, they will soon be a family of five.

Lorna says she’s very excited for Gus, who loves children. And she’s looking forward to passing along the couple’s heritage and interests to the twins.

“It's kind of surreal still,” says Wright.

The C.A.R.E. fund runs out of money every year, which is why the people who run it want to get the word out about a fundraiser coming up this Thursday night, April 19, at Oak Hill Country Club. Information about the event, and the organization, can be found here.